Flextronics reportedly plans second plant in India

BANGALORE, India  Electronic manufacturing services provider Flextronics will set up a second plant in India, initially investing $30 million to $50 million with additional investments of $300 million to $500 million over the next 10 to 15 years, according to a Reuters report from Tokyo.

The report quoted Peter Tan, president of Asia Pacific for Flextronics International Ltd., stating the second plant will be built on 150 acres in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai in the southern India Tamil Nadu region.

"We would like India to be another China, if possible, but that's going to take a lot of work as India does not have a lot of trained resources to work in factories," the report quoted Tan as saying. "The growth of manufacturing in India would be much more challenging compared to the growth of manufacturing in China."

Flextronics will initially build mobile handsets and set-top boxes in the plant, with automotive electronics, medical equipment and laser printers to possibly follow later. The Tamil Nadu government has also approved a package of incentives including making the plant’s location a special economic zone, according to another report here today from Chennai in The Hindu Business Line.

Flextronics has a plant in Bangalore it took over when the company acquired Motorola's pager manufacturing operations several years ago. The plant, which now employs 1,000, is also slated for expansion.